THE FEAST OF BACCHUS. 9

the state which was fast "becoming the leader of Greece,
and many no doubt were brought together by the feast
itself. There were the country people of Attica, conie
in, as it were, from the suburbs ; and lastly, there were
the regular inhabitants themselves. A busy, energetic
people these were, living half their time at sea or
in foreign cities; full of all a sailor's vivacity and
vigour and enterprise, yet without the sailor's ignor-
ance and rudeness—their hardihood tempered by the
culture which was fast gaining ground, and which this
festival did much to foster. We have lively descrip-
tions given us of the hurry and the bustle and the
clamour in the docks and marts of this most stirring
city; and now all was at its height. The city itself
was only just beginning to be beautified with the
temples and groves and statues which were afterwards
its glory; but at present, while the heroes of Marathon
were still in its streets, it needed no better decoration,
and the rough walls and narrow roads spoke still of
the haste with which they were built up, after the
Athenians had so nobly left their homes to destruc-
tion to fight at Salamis for the liberty of Greece.
Never has there been a city of which its people might
be more justly proud, whether they looked to its past
or to its future, than Athens in the days of JEschylus.
But all are tending, early in the day, to the great
theatre of Bacchus, under .the Acropolis. This sacred
citadel stands high above the rest of the city, crowned
even now with temples of the gods, and especially
of Minerva, the> patrongoddess. Its south side is a
steep precipice of rock, from which the ground slopes